The Year After
by soccergal1
Summary: It has been a year since the Kingdom Keepers defeated the Over Takers. But when they get an urgent message from Wayne, they know something bad has happened. They're back in business and ready to kick some OT butt!
1. Chapter 1

Finn felt the rough cobblestone street against his head. He opened his eyes. "Ah!" Maybeck's face was right in front of him. "Good God, Maybeck, could you back up a little?"

Maybeck grinned. "Sorry, man, but I've waiting for you for, like, five minutes!"

"Oh, you poor baby!" Finn's sarcasm was thick and he knew it. He got up to his feet and looked around. "Wow, I haven't been here in a long time."

It was almost a year after the Kingdom Keepers defeated the Over Takers in Disney Land. Finn had almost forgotten the feeling of being a DHI. The electronic tone in his voice could be heard and his body glowed.

"I know, right? I almost forgot what Walt Disney World looked like!"

"Where is everyone?" Finn looked around for the rest of the gang.

"They are already at the Keep. You're the last to arrive," Maybeck said, again gaining the why-am-I-wasting-my-time-on-you tone. Without another word, he started walking towards Escher's Keep, leaving Finn to scurry after him.

When they arrived at the foot of the maze, Finn realized that he had forgotten the correct passage up. He glanced at Maybeck, hoping he had knew the way, and saw that Maybeck had the same clueless expression on his face. "Well," Finn said, "this should be fun."

Maybeck gave him a wild look and started down a passage. It appeared to be wrong and he disappeared from sight as he fell through a trapdoor.

"Maybeck? Can you hear me?" No answer. "Maybeck?"

"I could call that a lot of things, but I would not call it fun." Maybeck walked into the room soaking wet. Stifling a laugh, Finn realized the trapdoor had sent him to the moat. Maybeck didn't look happy, so Finn tried another passage: it was the right one. He smiled at Maybeck.

After many trips to the moat and start over's, they reached the top. "Wow, that was one heck of a maze," Maybeck said through huffing breaths.

"I know, I don't remember it being so hard," Finn replied.

After they both caught their breaths, they hurried into the Keep.


	2. Chapter 2

(Earlier)

Philby was in his room on his computer IMing one of his only friends from school when it happened.

It was just after dinner and Philby immediately went up to his room. While he was instant messaging his friend, he had received a request for a video call from _ _ _ _ _. Philby quickly said goodbye to his classmate and pulled up the video call. "Wayne?"

The considerately old man's face Philby knew so well appeared on the screen. "Wayne!" Wayne's face had wrinkled much in the year Philby hadn't seen him. His white hair had seemingly turned whiter. Smile lines could be seen, but he wasn't smiling now. "What's wrong?"

"Meet me on VMK. Now," was all Wayne said before the screen turned black. Philby gaped at the screen for a few minutes before his well-developed mind recognized what 'now' meant.

Virtual Magic Kingdom had been closed down for a while, but Wayne, being an Imagineer, was able to get the Kingdom Keepers access to it. It was a considerable advantage, because it proved to be a private and quick way to chat.

He logged onto Virtual Magic Kingdom as his avatar and went to his room. Wayne was already there, sitting on the couch, sipping soda. Philby made his avatar get some juice and sat down next to Wayne.

Wayne's avatar casually threw away his empty soda can and walked back over. A text bubble appeared above its head.

_ _ _ _ _: They are back

Philby froze mid-type. If Wayne meant what Philby thought me meant, he had a reason to be scared.

DPhilbs: OT's?

Wayne's avatar silently nodded. Philby sat back in his chair and put his hands over his mouth. This was not good. Last time, they barely defeated with their lives.

_ _ _ _ _: Escher's Keep. Tonight.

Philby checked the time: it was almost seven thirty. Would that be enough time to alert the others?

DPhilbs: We'll be there.

Wayne's avatar nodded and disappeared. Philby massaged his temples: the stress was getting to him. Then he cracked his fingers and got to work.


	3. Chapter 3

Charlene was shooting hoops in her driveway when she received Philby's text.

Philly: Tonight is the night. Go to Escher's Keep. They're back.

Charlene tried to be calm and keep shooting, but she found that she was air balling all of her shots. She gave up and went inside.

Charlene went upstairs and turned on the water to her shower. Charlene believed that a hot shower could solve anything. Turns out, she was wrong. After a long hot shower, Charlene still didn't feel any better.

She flopped on her bed and brought out her scrapbook. The first couple of pages were her baby pictures. You could see her already beautiful blonde hair sprouting from her scalp. Her big blue eyes captured all who looked. She sighed; wishing it all was as easy as it was then.

Charlene turned to her elementary years. Some of the pictures included her playing with her friends; others were modeling photos. Charlene noticed that not many were with her family.

Then came her middle school pictures: her class pictures, more modeling photos, and pictures from the trips she had gone on with her family.

Finally, last but not least, were her high school pictures. There wasn't as much of her at school, but she had entitled a lot of pages to her adventures as a Kingdom Keeper. There were pictures of her in that tight green suit that she had to wear with the little sensor/microphone thingys; she hated wearing that. There were photos of her DHI when she went to Disney, standing next to it. But most of all, there were pictures of her with her fellow Kingdom Keepers. Some were taken at the mall, others were at Disney (they were all in disguises), and even more were at each other's houses, just hanging out. She blushed when she realized that three pages were all photos of Finn with little hearts around his face.

Charlene turned to the last page; the one with all of the Kingdom Keepers (without disguises) smiling and laughing in front of the gates at Disney. The picture brought tears to Charlene's eyes: she hadn't seen her friends in so long.

"Charlene, dinnertime!" Her mother yelled up the stairs.

Charlene sighed and closed the scrapbook. She put it on top of her desk and ran downstairs to eat dinner.


End file.
